


only the finest

by meteoranger



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, I'm sorry if this is OOC, M/M, Modern AU, background mikagabu, grimnir shouldn't be allowed to bake, hints of lucisan and belisan if you squint very hard, shiva is very soft for his silly boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 10:12:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17181014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meteoranger/pseuds/meteoranger
Summary: In which Grimnir attempts to bake a cake without fully understanding the meaning of precision.





	only the finest

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, @DEVILSBOG/godflve! I'm your Secret Santa this year. I picked Shiva/Grimnir and baking from your prompt list, but tried to add in a mix of your other requests as well. I'm sorry if everyone's OOC, especially Shiva, since there's not much content to fully build personalities on, but I tried my best! I hope you like this :)

_No… Not good enough…_

Grimnir sighed and scratched his head as he looked at the cake before him. It was… odd-looking, to say the least, and one could easily mistake it for something other than cake. A gooey pile of cream, chocolate, and cherries, perhaps. Definitely not cake. Definitely not what he’s been going for how - gee, how long has it been? He had lost track of time.

Speaking of which...

“He’s gonna be here any minute,” Grimnir muttered desperately under his breath. None of this was going according to plan. He had the most spectacular cake in mind - large, perhaps half his height, with the frosting alone comparable to ambrosia itself… sumptuous and flavorful with every bite like paradise in one’s mouth, filling yet refreshing at the same time, a dessert so wonderful you could never forget its heavenly taste…!

That really had been the plan. Europa had come up with the recipe for him and even taught him how to bake, for goodness’ sake! But why couldn’t he get anything right? He had followed all of her instructions precisely - well, except for a few alterations of his own, of course (like adding a little, or a lot, more of everything to add flavor, or setting the oven temperature a bit higher to have it bake faster), so why was his cake coming out all wrong?

(At the back of his mind he remembered Europa’s soft, gentle voice telling him that everything had to be exact, but more was better, wasn’t it? The cake had to be  _perfect!_ )

Grimnir glanced at the clock. Their little winter party wasn’t until seven, but it was almost six, and Shiva had said he would arrive by then to pick him up. The original plan had actually been to stop by the bakery on the way to Hal and Mal’s place, but Grimnir had wanted to surprise Shiva with a cake he made on his own. He had wanted Shiva to praise him, to tell him he did a good job and to pat his head, but now…

Now all he had were a dozen failed cakes and nothing to show for a day’s worth of effort. His stomach was rumbling from hunger too - he had missed lunch, having started his baking experiments sometime after breakfast.

 _I guess I should clean up._ If Shiva was arriving soon, Grimnir definitely didn’t want him to see all this failure, and he had to get ready to go out, too. But just as he started gathering his pans, he heard the front door open, jumping in surprise when he heard Shiva call out.

“Grimnir? I have arrived. Are you dressed?”

“S-S-Shiva!” Oh, crap. Oh, fuck. In his haste to get everything cleaned faster, Grimnir slipped and fell right on his ass, the pans falling with him and making a loud clanging sound as they hit the floor. He only got a moment to whine in pain before his brain went haywire with _Shiva is coming and he’s gonna see how messy the kitchen is and I’m gonna have to explain how I messed up_ and he immediately got up - except this time, he ended up slipping on an empty bag of flour, and ended up on the floor yet again.

“Grimnir! What was that noise?”

Grimnir didn’t even have the heart to get up now. His face heated up in shame as he slowly sat up, watching Shiva enter the kitchen with an expression of concern mixed with confusion. He stayed silent, worried he’d embarrass himself further. God did he want so badly to sink to the bottom of the earth right now.

Shiva was also silent as he looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. The kitchen table was full of baking equipment and ingredients and the remnants of Grimnir’s failed cakes that hadn’t been thrown away yet. It was rather easy to put two and two together, especially with Grimnir in an apron and with flour all over him. Grimnir swore he saw the slightest of smiles on Shiva’s face before the larger man approached, careful not to slip on anything himself as he picked up the pans to put them back on the table.

“I thought we had made plans to buy cake from Miss Rosine,” Shiva said. His voice was gentle as he knelt next to the Grimnir, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and starting to wipe the flour from the younger boy’s face; Grimnir only protested for a second before relenting. “I see you changed your mind before informing me.”

Grimnir muttered something in response, and Shiva blinked, raising a brow in confusion.

“Pardon?”

“It was supposed to be a _surprise_ ,” Grimnir whined, sounding very much like a child. He really hadn’t wanted Shiva to know he had failed, but here they were. _Why did he always have to be so punctual?_

“Is that so…” This time the expression on Shiva’s face was one of amusement. Grimnir felt his embarrassment increase tenfold - Shiva was making fun of him, wasn’t he? - but to his surprise, the older man started to pat him on the head instead.

He blinked in surprise, peering up at him now. “S-Shiva?”

“You did not have to do this, you know? Although the gesture is definitely appreciated.” Shiva started to pat him more, and Grimnir’s face turned redder in a different kind of embarrassment. “Did you really want to bake your own cake that badly?”

“Yes,” Grimnir admitted softly. Shiva’s praise aside, baking his own cake rather than buying one was more personal. He could already imagine how wonderful it would feel for everybody else to eat a cake _he_ made himself, to see their happiness and delight from something he created with his own hands. It was a special occasion, too, with everyone getting together for the first time like this - even Lucifer was coming, thanks to Hal and Mal’s persuasion, and his presence meant Sandalphon would definitely show up.

And it was…

Grimnir’s face flushed an even darker shade of red. It was his and Shiva’s first time spending the holidays together, too. That made it even more special.

Shiva was silent as he watched his boyfriend curl in on himself, much like a little animal. Even without Grimnir saying it, he had an idea of why this was so important to him, and there was no way he was going to take that away from him.

“...How about this.” Shiva took a quick glance at the clock before turning to face a confused Grimnir with a small smile. “I have some baking experience myself. We can bake the cake together.”

“B… What?” Grimnir was stunned. This wasn’t what he had expected at all. “What?”

“It will be faster with the two of us,” Shiva explained, slowly getting up to his feet and holding Grimnir’s hand to help him up as well. “You can leave the measurements to me. I am quite sure you did not follow the instructions as precisely as you should.” At Grimnir’s exclamation of “HEY!”, he chuckled. “We will be a bit late to the party, but I do not think anyone will particularly mind. Except Alexiel, perhaps.”

This really was embarrassing. But at the same time, Grimnir couldn't really complain - this meant he could spend some time with Shiva before the party. He did always like having Shiva's company all to himself.

He tried to regain a bit more of his composure before responding. “I-I suppose we can do that,” he finally said, putting his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest in an attempt to show some confidence. “A cake made by the two of us… It can be nothing less than utmost perfection, a delicacy befitting of the gods themselves! When our friends take a bite of it, the taste will make them feel as though they have been transported straight to heaven, and-”

The smile on Shiva's face was fond as he let his boyfriend ramble on as he always did. Grimnir loved to talk big, but it was that fiery passion in his eyes and in the way he carried himself that Shiva loved so much about him. He was like a tempest, and Shiva was more than glad to let those strong winds carry him away.

“And so!” Grimnir finally finished, the earlier embarrassed look on his face now replaced by a wide, confident grin. “Shall we begin?”

“Let us do so.” Shiva reached for a spare apron and put it on, tying his hair back in a ponytail to keep it out of his face. “We shall bake a cake that will take our friends’ breath away.”

* * *

_Extra:_

Snow had started to fall again when Shiva decided it was time to go - Grimnir had insisted that he didn't want to leave until the party was over, but had ended up getting drunk on eggnog and falling asleep. It had been quite a casual and peaceful gathering at first, until Belial arrived with his bandmates and kicked the party's mood up a notch. He had just started some sort of game with Hal, Mal, Uriel, Gabriel, Europa, and Lucifer, and was now urging Sandalphon to join in, too.

Figuring it would be too rowdy and not wanting to get caught up in whatever chaos would ensue, Shiva decided it was probably time to leave. He was just about to tap Grimnir on the shoulder to wake him up when Michael came up behind him holding a paper bag.

“There are gifts for the two of you inside, from me and Gabriel. I had forgotten to give them earlier,” she said.

Shiva returned his older sister's smile with his own. “Thank you. I am afraid we left everyone's gifts in a hurry to get here - you will have to wait until the New Year party.”

“It's no big deal,” said Michael, waving her hand. “So, you'll be going now?”

“Yes. Grimnir is rather exhausted, so I would like for him to get some proper rest before it gets too...rowdy in here.”

“I understand.” Michael sighed as she looked over at the group in the center of the room - specifically at Gabriel, who was giggling at something Belial had said. “God knows what that Belial is up to now. Last time…” She shuddered; the previous time they had all gotten together was during the after-party of one of Belial's concerts, and it was an understatement to say things had gotten rather wild.

Shiva couldn't help but chuckle. “If you want to keep an eye on her, you can just join them in playing,” he said. Gabriel was a surprisingly strong and capable woman, but Michael still got quite protective of her wife.

“Negative,” was Michael's immediate response. “I'll just watch from here - if he makes her do anything stupid, I'll make sure to have him pay for it.”

“Not before Gabriel does it herself, I am sure.” The two exchanged a knowing smile before Michael finally moved on, and Shiva settled on carrying Grimnir on his back so they could go.

The snowfall was light and the car wasn't parked too far away. Grimnir wasn't heavy, either, so it didn't take much effort to head there.

Grimnir was asleep the entire trip home, and stayed asleep even when Shiva carried him up to his bedroom. It made him seem a lot more like a child, but Shiva found it rather endearing.

It was only when Shiva had stepped in his room that Grimnir began to stir, a soft yawn escaping his lips as he rubbed his eyes. “Mm… S… Shiva…?”

“Ah, you're awake.” Shiva was gentle as he walked over to the bed and set Grimnir down, the younger boy rubbing at his eyes sleepily.

“What time is it…? When did we…?”

“We left the party about half an hour ago. You fell asleep, so I decided to take you home.”

Grimnir continued to rub his eyes as he tried to process this. He didn't remember when he fell asleep, but he did remember Belial and his band arriving. He remembered talking with Europa and Alexiel, with Europa gushing to him about how much she liked the cake he and Shiva had baked. At the memory, he couldn't help but smile. “The cake was amazing, wasn't it?” he said. The entire baking process had definitely been much easier with Shiva's help, and he had actually managed to make adjustments to adapt to Grimnir's excessive requests.

“Indeed. Everybody enjoyed it immensely.” Shiva felt rather proud himself. He sat next to Grimnir now, and the latter was quick to lean against him.

“It would be nice to do that more often… Making stuff together, I mean… You know? Baking, and other things, too.” Grimnir's cheeks were a little pink, but he looked happy and content. Shiva smiled as he put his hand atop Grimnir's head, ruffling his hair gently.

“I would like that,” he said, his voice soft and fond. “I definitely enjoyed baking that cake with you.”

“Really?” Grimnir's eyes shone brightly, and Shiva couldn't help but laugh softly at how eager he looked. “You mean it?”

“Of course I do. You did a good job, Grimnir.” Shiva leaned in to kiss his forehead gently, and Grimnir blushed even more. _So cute_ , he thought; he wanted to kiss him a lot more, but now probably wasn't the time. Instead, he settled with holding the younger man close, keeping him warm against him. “I love you.”

Grimnir felt his face heat up further, and he made a little sound akin to a squeak. Despite being together for a few months now, it still made his heart race madly whenever Shiva got affectionate. It's not like he _wasn’t_ \- he was surprisingly very sweet, although mostly in private; it was probably because it was so unexpected that it took Grimnir by surprise each time.

He still remembered the first time he met Shiva - it was one of the most cliche first meetings ever, a chance encounter at a coffee shop. Grimnir had been running late for work, so he had gone to buy coffee and some food for his boss Raphael, and in his haste he had bumped into Shiva and spilled hot coffee all over him. Grimnir had apologized repeatedly to the tall man who stood there passively (Grimnir remembered wondering if he was immune to heat or something; normal people would've yelled in surprise and then start yelling at him) and said he would do anything to make it up to him. He later found out Shiva was buying coffee for his sister, who turned out to be another big name at Grimnir’s company and was even a close friend of Raphael's.

The rest, as they say, was history. Despite his intimidating aura, Shiva was surprisingly kind, and Grimnir ended up falling for the older man's gentle warmth. He still couldn't believe how lucky he was that Shiva returned his feelings; sometimes, it still felt like a dream.

But it was reality, _his_ reality, and he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

“I… I love you, too.” It was still embarrassing to say on his end, but Grimnir meant it with all his heart.

The smile on Shiva's face let him know he knew it, too.

 

_-end._


End file.
